Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. I remember going to Ottawa one time with Bill Erasmus as the national chief of the Dene Nation at the time. We actually went into the House of Commons. We actually stood by stairs, you know, as they're coming down, and we actually did meet with a federal minister in the lobby. But we shouldn't have to do that in this building. Yeah, we do things differently. That's because we're a consensus government, Mr. Speaker. So I want this Premier to actually commit to raise this issue with the Minister while he's here that he should actually start to meet with some of us...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier as I seem to get different answers from different Ministers on whether this government intends to plow ahead with an allweather road project during a regional study.

So, can the Premier tell us whether it is the intention of this government to submit land use permit and water license applications for the Lockhart AllSeason Road that will undoubtedly trigger an environmental assessment while a regional study is underway. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't really have any notes because I'm totally exhausted. But I just you know, committee at least our side is, we've had lots of discussion and debate about this bill over the last number of months, and we had to kind of carefully consider where we wanted to register objections and concerns with the bill. And so, you know, we thought about this a lot, and I think we saw a part of that even earlier today here where this side of the House didn't really want the bill called, period. Cabinet had to call this bill forward. So, you know, we could have had a vote and tried...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier in this sitting, I tabled a copy of the February 3rd, 2023 letter where the federal minister of northern affairs approved a regional study under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act to look at the future of the area between Yellowknife and the Nunavut border. Unfortunately, the study, as it is currently formulated, will stop at the Nunavut border. However, caribou don't stop there and planning continues for an allweather road that would destroy habitat and disrupt migrations of the Bathurst caribou herd.

A regional study is a good thing, especially...

Thanks, Madam Chair. So just to be really clear, I do support a carbon tax as part of an approach to deal with the climate crisis but I firmly reject Cabinet's inflexible and unfair approach with this bill. And I want to kind of spend a minute a few minutes to kind of recount how we got here because this is not about a madeinthe North solution. This is a made by Cabinet solution. That needs to be really clear.

So, you know, Cabinet went off. They started to talk to the federal government about how to rejig the carbon tax. They didn't even bother to tell us that they were doing that. We had no...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to speak too long about this but I think part of the issue here was we were one of the last jurisdictions to negotiate an agreement with the federal government, and when it was signed, I think it was in December of last year, and of course one of the objectives of the federal government was to try to reduce fees for parents, try to institute basically some program of $10 a day child care across the country. And given the timing of the agreement when it was finally signed and the need to get these caps or try to meet the federal objective, it led to I think...

Gee, I’m kinda forgetful, Madam Chair. Can -- sorry, I would like to ask the Chair to – I move to ask – I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't have any prepared comments; I've got scribbled notes. I'm going to do my best to cover a number of areas. And I guess I just want to start by saying we don't really do a very good job explaining to the public what happens in this place. And I keep making that point again and again. And we always tend to think that we're the center of the universe in here but lots of other things are going on outside in people's normal lives, you know, picking up kids, arranging care for an elder or whatever. And in any event, there's a lot of things that happen behind the scenes. A...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I move that Clause 3 of Bill 73 be amended by deleting "on assent" and substituting "on September 4, 2023". Merci, Madame la Presidente.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to deal with Tabled Document 81319(2), Committee Report 4219(2), Committee Report 4819(2), Bill 60, Bill 66, Bill 67, Bill 73, and Bill 76. Mahsi. Oh sorry, can I do that list over again, Madam Chair.